COLLEGE FOOTBALL ’92 : They Have Nothing to Lose : Titans Hope to Rebound From 2-9 Season With New Uniforms, New Stadium

Three things you’ll probably never hear at a Cal State Fullerton home football game this season:

“You know, if you squint your eyes just right, you’d swear you were watching Oklahoma’s offense.”

“That Titan quarterback puts Dale Bunn to shame.”

“Nose-bleed seats? And I had to go through a ticket broker to get these!”

Fullerton will be wearing new navy blue uniforms, new black shoes, and the Titans’ new helmets will have new logos when they play Cal State Northridge in their new on-campus stadium Saturday. But Fullerton Coach Gene Murphy has no clue as to how his new option offense will look.

“I don’t know about the offense,” Murphy said. “I may not know about it until I don’t know when.”

Not exactly a ringing endorsement of the Titans’ revamped, run-oriented attack.

“Whether this works out . . . it may not,” Murphy said. “It may drizzle down our leg. But the point is, we’re going to try it.”

What has he got to lose? With last year’s young quarterbacks drawing comparisons to yard tools (weed-whacker) and baseball players (another grounder up the middle) during an ugly 2-9 season, Murphy decided to scrap the one-back set that had been so successful in recent years.

Drop-back quarterbacks Chad May (a freshman) and Terry Payne (a sophomore) dropped out of the program, and with no Damon Allen-types knocking at the Titan door, Murphy moved to build the offense around more athletic, mobile quarterbacks.

The strategy seemed to pay off when he landed two highly regarded community college option quarterbacks, Jack Manu of Riverside College and Mark Wilson of Citrus.

But when Wilson, who participated in spring practice, decided he was no longer an option quarterback and left school this summer, and Manu was ruled academically ineligible, Murphy was left with three compromise candidates, Trendell Williams, Quincy Guy and Richard Fanti.

All three are decent athletes--Williams and Guy are good runners and Fanti is the best passer of the three--but none are true option quarterbacks. And not one has taken a snap in a Division I game.

The offense has certainly made strides since the spring game, when the triple option consisted of:

1. Quarterback keeping around end.

2. Quarterback pitching to halfback around end.

3. Quarterback pitching to halfback and halfback diving for fumble.

But no one is comparing it to those Dale Bunn-led Titan option teams of 1977-78, when the Fullerton quarterback compiled 2,869 total yards in offense. At least, not yet.

“I hope it’s ready before the season’s over or it’s going to be a miserable year,” Murphy said. “But it gets better every time we leave the practice field. It’s a high-risk offense, but it shouldn’t be if you run it enough times.”

The Titans, picked by coaches and the media to finish last in the Big West Conference, have some good running backs in Arthur Davis, who rushed for 683 yards and four touchdowns last season, Reggie Carter, Danny Pasquil and Jamal Smith, a converted quarterback who Murphy says is one of the best athletes on the team.

But offensive success will hinge on the quarterback’s decision-making skills, his precision on pitchouts, and the blocking of the line, which features four beefy guards--Robert Hudson (6-1, 325), Danny Garcia (6-2, 295), Alex McTrusty (6-0, 313) and John Cotti (6-2, 285).

The Titan defense, thanks to an outstanding group of linebackers and an infusion of community college linemen, should be improved.

Heading the unit is senior inside linebacker Lorenzo Hailey, the Titans’ leading tackler in 1990 who was a redshirt because of personal reasons last season but has made a strong return. Murphy says John Nevens is the best linebacker he’s had in 12 years at Fullerton, but the 6-0, 230-pound Hailey is not far behind.

“If he was 6-2, he wouldn’t be here,” Murphy said. “He’d be at a big-time school.”

Fifth-year senior Mike Gullo and senior John Haynes will join Hailey inside, and sophomore Dan Godfrey, who showed promise at inside linebacker in 1991, will be moved outside.

Gutsy nose guard Jason Wells returns for his senior season, and Thomas Cale, a transfer from Taft College, and returning letterman Randy Strickland will play tackle. Mike Allen, Keone Simon, Ron Braxton, Pooh Jenkins and Shambi Scott will see action at end.

Will the Titans have a better pass rush?

“I hope so because it’s going to be Air Cal again in the Big West,” Murphy said.

Darrius Watson, who had six interceptions last season, and B.B. Hudson return at cornerback, and the secondary should be bolstered by the addition of free safety Al Whitten, a transfer from Modesto College.

Fullerton lost punter/kicker Phil Nevin to professional baseball, but freshman punter Noel Prefontaine has looked good in practice. Juniors Julio Ocana and Jorge Madrigal are battling for the kicking job.

“We’re better than we were last year, but what does that say?” Murphy said. “I don’t know. We won two games last year.”

At least the Titans will look better, especially on the sideline in their new stadium. The new uniforms are sharp, and Fullerton will dress around 100 players for home games--up from the 43 who suited up for the final game of 1991. So what if about half are walk-ons, it’s something for the Titans to get excited about.

“It doesn’t have to excite me, you, the boosters or anyone, but when you see our players go into the stadium or into the locker room and see those jerseys, wow,” Murphy said. “That’s what it’s all about, motivation. You don’t have to say a word. It’s a turn-on.”